still, it's enough for nick kuecker's kansas city company that designs and builds these sorts of systems to look for more people to hire. "we're moving from hardware to software. so you're looking for i.t. people? yes, i.t. dot-net, c+ code writing and plc engineers for our company." the manufacturing outlook leads chris williamson, chief economist at financial information services firm markit, to believe the growth of gdp and non-farm payroll will accelerate in the first quarter. government cuts to defense are blamed for a huge loss at general dynamics. that tops our look at 4th quarter earnings this morning. general dynamics reported a $2-billion loss as its information tech business slows due to a decline in government contracts. xerox topped estimates, earning $335 million. it's shifting away from printing and offering more services. nokia is back in black, helped by its smartphone alliance with microsoft. for the first time in 143 years, the company is skipping a dividend. netflix wins the spotlight with $945 million in revenue and strong subscribers numbers. the stock rallied $43 y